Herbilicious

Herbs may sound like a fancy word that only adults use but they are something everyone can benefit from.  Herbs are any plant that can be used as a spice, medicine, or perfume.  This class was designed to use herbs in all three ways.  The first way we used herbs was by making oatmeal and lavender bath tea for a soothing soak.  We used lavender flowers and its oil for a pleasing aroma.

To use an herb as a spice we took basil leaves and skewered them onto a stick with our cherry tomatoes growing in the garden and a piece of fresh mozzarella.  It is called a Caprese salad.  Caprese is an Italian word and the red, green, and white colors of the ingredients are the colors in the Italian flag.  Hey, that is pretty cool!  We had purple basil and orange tomatoes. I wonder which country's flag are those colors?

We took a walk around the garden to find our third way to use an herb...as a medicine. Growing in the ground like a weed is a plant called Plantain.  When the leaves are chewed up and then applied to a bee sting, it is suppose to help draw the stinger out as well as ease the pain.  Not too bad for what most people call a weed.

As a result of the kids taking me up on the challenge of eating a rainbow for a week, they were rewarded with a super fun rainbow marker.